Washington baseball team named the Nationals

The wait for the revealing of the new Washington baseball team’s name and logo ended on Nov. 22, with the Expos’ name changed to the Nationals and a red, white, blue and gold logo announced.

Even with funding for the proposed new stadium yet to be approved, the team proceeded with an elaborate ceremony at Union Station on Monday afternoon. Mayor Anthony Williams (D) was joined by Nationals president Tony Tavares and GM Jim Bowden for the unveiling in front of hundreds of fans.

Unveiled in the ceremony were both the primary and secondary logos. The main logo features all the team colors and the team and city name. The secondary logo is an interlocking “DC” surrounded by a ring that says “Washington Nationals.”

The new hats feature the pretzel “W,” which are nearly identical to those worn by the old Senators, and come in scarlet and blue. Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig was also on hand for the ceremony.

The uniforms themselves have not been revealed as of yet, but there will be a home white jersey with “Nationals” across the chest, a road gray jersey with “Washington” on it and an alternate red shirt that is believed to showcase the alternate “DC” logo.

There was plenty of Nationals merchandise for sale at Union Station, and fans can order the new hats, shirts and other Nationals apparel at www.nationals.com, as well as tickets for 2005 at RFK Stadium.

Mayor Williams was opposed to Senators as the name, because the District does not have representation in Congress. The Senators name is owned by the Texas Rangers, who retained the rights to the name when they left Washington for Dallas.

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Aaron on November 24, 2004

The hats are soo nice looking. I already have ordered mine. Not a big fan of the logo or the other merchandise however, it's way too patriotic, I feel like I'm looking at a 4th of July concert shirt.

There's nothing bad about it, it just looks odd, like, the shirt has an eagle on it, and fireworks going off, and there's a tiny Nationals logo in the corner of the shirt. The focus is on the eagle and everything and not on the team, which is kind of weird.